Stealing Shields
by Elinor W
Summary: Jestinia of Rockstream is painfully and completely ordinary. She could almost blend in with the other pages, except for one thing, and no one can ever find out
1. Inside the Ordinary

Sir Keladry of Masbolle smiled at the trapped look on Neal's face. King Roald was laughing outright, his ever-polite mask having been dropped for the moment. Neal shook his head in disgust, "I knew I should have stayed at the University." He muttered.  
  
Kel just shook her head, "We've all heard that so many times in the past years that it's lost effect on us O Sir Meathead." She said.  
  
Roald grinned even more, "It's O Sir Meathead, King's Champion now." He corrected.  
  
Neal growled in defeat, "Alright, alright, I'll do it, not that I have much choice. I just swore my fealty to you, my king, bare weeks ago. I suppose this is going to be yet another instance of "like knight like squire"?"  
  
Roald nodded, "Which reminds me Kel, Raoul told me that he'd like to step down from the role of Commander of the King's Own."  
  
Kel stared at Roald who still had that evil grin on his face. Now it was Neal's turn to crow at Kel, "Ooh, you didn't see that one coming did you now?" he asked.  
  
Kel turned her flat stare to Neal who returned her gaze unabashed. Kel shook her head slowly, "The conservatives will hate it." She said, hoping for an escape.  
  
Roald shook his head, "They took Alanna well enough as Champion, Lady Commander is a much different position but they'll look on it as much the same, you're not going to get out of it that way."  
  
Kel floundered for another argument of some kind but Roald easily brushed aside her protests. "You're the only one for the job Kel. You're a born commander and all of the men already know and respect you, both from when you were Raoul's squire and from the work you've done with them since. You're perfect." He said.  
  
Kel shook her head but she knew that she was caught, "Alright, I don't seem to have much choice in the matter either." She said. Roald nodded firmly and then smiled even more widely, "Won't Owen be simply furious?" he asked.  
  
Kel and Neal's eyes sprung open in horror, "You wouldn't do that to him, would you?" Kel asked.  
  
Roald shook his head, "No, no, I'm going to ask Merric to do that, he's always been good with teaching people." Kel nodded, relieved for Owen and happy that Roald had made a good choice for the new Training Master.  
  
"I thought that I'd have more time before all my father's old administrators made me replace them, but I guess that it's best to get it all done at the same time, start my reign with everything fresh." Roald said, his face becoming serious again as his mind wandered to the death of his father. King Jonathan had died of old age, a rare thing indeed for a king, but Jonathan had been well-loved by his subjects and Tortall had prospered under him. Roald smiled again, "Neal, has Michiko asked you about trying for her shield yet?"  
  
Kel burst out laughing at Neal's responding groan.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Jestinia of Rockstream took a deep breath as she took the seat that Lord Merric offered, studying the training master carefully as she did so. Lord Merric looked stern, but she had heard from the whispers around court that he was fair too, though harsh.  
  
"Your father says you wish to be a page." Merric said.  
  
"Yes, sir." Jes said.  
  
Merric nodded, "You will live in the Page's Quarters, dinner is in an hour and your classes will start tomorrow. When you report to dinner you will be assigned a sponsor to show you the ways of the palace. Your father says that you have the Gift?"  
  
"Yes sir, it's a very small one though, not much use for anything except lighting candles really." Jes said.  
  
"Very well, one of the Palace staff will be waiting for you outside to show you to your quarters." He nodded in dismissal, and Jes, surprised to be dismissed so quickly jumped to her feet and bowed.  
  
Merric watched the girl leave, a puzzled look on his face. There was something strange about this girl.she seemed so ordinary, but there was something strange about her.  
  
* * * * * * * *  
  
Jes stifled a giggle as she caught the look that Lord Merric was giving her as she walked out of his office. Most people didn't even look twice at her because of how ordinary she seemed. Rockstream was a small fief far to the North of Corus, rich enough to have knights once in a while, yet not one of the prominent house. Jes schooled her face back to the blank curiosity she had decided was most realistic to her character and went to meet the servant who came to take her to her room. 


	2. Babble

Jes looked at the small room in the Page's wing that had been assigned to her with satisfaction. The room was small, but it fulfilled all of the usual needs of a page and there was plenty of extra space for any practicing she might care to do.  
  
The servants had already brought in her bags, they were carefully placed by the door. Jes had already checked them to see if they had been opened or looked through and they were evidently untouched. Jes grinned, she was being paranoid, why would anyone look through her things?  
  
Jes carefully opened her bags and started to store her clothing into the small dresser that sat in one corner of the room. At a knock on the door Jes sprung up, carefully shutting her bags as she opened the door. A tall girl was standing outside, leaning against the doorframe. "Hello, are you Jestinia then?" the girl asked.  
  
Jes wondered for a minute how the girl knew her name before remembering the slate that stood over the entrance to her room. She smiled. "Yes, but call me Jes, everyone else does."  
  
The girl smiled, "I'm Daniella of Goldenlake, but if I'm to call you Jes then you should call me Dani, everyone else does." She said. Jes looked at the other girl for a minute, measuring up the daughter of the famous pair of leaders, Buriram and Raoul of Goldenlake who had led the Queen's Riders and the King's Own respectively although they had new leaders now under King Jonathan.  
  
Dani ran a hand through her cropped brown hair, "You're one of the five first year girls, I'm a second year myself, I haven't met any of them yet though. You're lucky, I'm the only girl in my year even though there are a bunch in all the others. But you'll love it here. What weapon's your favorite?"  
  
Jes stared at the talkative girl for a minute, bemused by her babbling. "I like knives best really, but I'm good with hand to hand." She said.  
  
Dani grinned, "That's good then, we just got a new Shang. We didn't have one my first year here, they don't like to settle down, that's what Pa says. But the Shang Panther came two weeks ago and he says that he's going to stay for a long time because he's tired of his own cooking."  
  
"A Shang?" Jes asked. She had heard of the Shang warriors of course, and envied them their talent although Jes had always wanted to be a knight. She had wanted to be a knight ever since she had first seen one, riding through the city on his great warhorse. But the Shang warriors were still famed throughout the realm and it would be interesting to learn an organized system of hand to hand combat rather than the jumble that she had managed to pick up throughout the years. It had been necessary, living where she did.  
  
Dani was still babbling away, not noticing that Jes' attention was elsewhere. Finally she paused to take a breath and then remembered why she had come to greet Jes. "Oh yes, I came to get you for dinner," she said, "I know Lord Merric probably told you that it wasn't for another hour, but there's a special banquet tonight because they're officially announcing the new Champion and the new Commander of the King's Own. They're probably going to announce the new leader for the Queen's Rider's too come to think of it, although I'm not totally sure who that's going to be. Mum and Pa stepped down you see, of course you probably already knew that." Jes nodded, she had heard that they had stepped down from their positions obviously, she didn't live under a rock and she opened her mouth to say so but Dani was off running at the mouth again. "Well, I decided I'd tell you because you're the last arrived of the pages and Lord Merric tends to get a little scatter brained at the end of the day, especially when he's thinking of something, which I know he is because his wife is expecting a baby any minute. But the banquet's tonight and you'll have to ask Master Oakbridge where he wants you to work. Master Oakbridge is really old now but he's still obsessed with perfection so there you go." Now Jes was staring outright at Dani who just smiled and grabbed Jes' hand. "Come on then!"  
  
Jes just followed her new friend, dazed by all the babble. 


	3. Sponsors

Jes collapsed onto her bed, thankful to finally be back in her rooms, alone at last. The banquet had just been one mishap after another. Dani had lent her a spare uniform so at least Jes had looked right, but pretty much everything else had gone wrong. When they had arrived at the banquet hall and Dani had introduced her to Master Oakbridge he had responded with such panic that Jes had been afraid that the ancient old man was going to crumple into a heap on the spot. Instead he had banished her to giving the pages new salt shakers to replace the ones that ran out at the tables they were waiting on.  
  
It had seemed simple enough to Jes until boys started to pour in, their hose and tunics covered with various foods and wines. Master Oakbridge was practically shaking as one page after another was replaced and still more pages seemed to be getting in accidents. Finally Master Oakbridge had told Jes to take over for a fourth year page called Granten of Distart. Jes sunk her head into her pillow, she had panicked and practically thrown the platter filled with bowls of soup at herself.  
  
By the end of the night Master Oakbridge was purple faced with rage and had given them all extra punishment duty. Jes was exhausted, she had just rode in to the palace, and although the ride from her home was short, especially compared with the ride from Rockstream, she was still tired. And Dani said that the new pages would get their sponsors the next day and start their classes almost immediately afterwards. Jes groaned as she buried her face still deeper into her pillow.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Despite her weariness the night before, Jes was awake when the maid who had been assigned to her quarters came in to start the fire. "Good morning, Page Jestinia." The maid said, "I am Shana, I've been assigned to your room by Gower, the headman here."  
  
Jes smiled at the young woman who she judged was probably around eighteen, "Thank you, but please, call me Jes, Jestinia seems so overly formal." She said.  
  
"As you wish," Shana paused, "Jes." She finished as though she was unsure if she was right. Jes smiled at the older girl, "Thanks, do you know how long I've got until breakfast? I've still got to go to Palace Stores and get my things."  
  
Shana smiled, "You've only got a few more minutes but if you'll let me take your measurements I'm sure that I can request the things you need and have them here by the time you return from breakfast." She said, taking a series of strings out from one of the voluminous pockets provided in the outfit of a Palace Maid.  
  
Jes nodded. "Would you do that? It would be a great help to me." She said. Shana nodded and whipped the cords about as Jes looked on in amazement at the quick efficiency of the whole process. Shana straightened and curtsied to Jes, who, unsure what was the proper response, made a quick bow.  
  
Shana snorted. When Jes looked at her in surprise she said, "You're a noble, you don't want to be bowing down to the likes of me."  
  
Jes looked at her for a minute and then shrugged. "Why ever not?" she asked.  
  
Shana stared at her then curtsied and left, muttering something of which Jes only caught the words "crazy" and "noble".  
  
Still lacking any sort of uniform to wear to breakfast, the one she had borrowed from Dani having been irreparably stained by the soup the night before, Jes walked over to where her bags lay by the door, still waiting to be unpacked. Jes pulled out a pair of light flowing breeches which were a dark blue in color, and a tunic in a lighter blue over a white undershirt. Jes looked at herself in the small mirror that hung on the otherwise bare wall and carefully smoothed back her hair. She was the perfect picture of a rich young girl, dressed somewhat boyishly perhaps, but that was to be expected. Jes' face finally cracked into a wide smile, her brown eyes twinkling with the excitement of what she was doing.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Jes!" Dani yelled, pounding on the door, "Jes, you've got to come out now, you don't want to miss Lord Merric, he wants us all to meet him in the hall here now, hurry!" Jes pulled open the door to see Dani dancing from foot to foot, an impatient look in her eyes.  
  
"I'm here, I'm here." Jes said.  
  
"Just in time." Dani said as Lord Merric came striding down the hall, a large group of pages following him.  
  
"Ahem, first year pages please step forward, I will now assign you a sponsor to show you the ropes of the Palace and get you accustomed to your duties here. You will pay your sponsor proper respect as is due to all of your elders." He turned to look at the older pages behind him, "And if I hear word of any violence or bullying on your parts towards the younglings you will hear from me." Lord Merric said. The older pages nodded obediently.  
  
"He really means that. When M'lord was a page there were some boys who took the traditional hazing too far, Lord Merric was part of the group that stopped them. People might not have taken it seriously then, but Pa says that one of those boys died in the Chamber during his Ordeal. It's not tolerated at all anymore." Dani whispered to Jes, "Kel, Sir Keladry was the leader of that group, she wouldn't tell me much about it, too modest, but Pa says that the gossip was all over the court and that was one of the reasons he took her for squire. Pa likes people who try to change wrong things." Jes nodded impatiently, not wanting to get into trouble for whispering.  
  
Lord Merric pointed to one of the boys who had stepped forwards, "Who will sponsor Nathaniel of Conte?" he asked. Jes looked with interest at the boy, the second son of King Roald and Queen Shinkokami. One of the older boys from the crowd behind Lord Merric stepped forward, "I will sponsor him, if it pleases M'lord."  
  
Lord Merric nodded, "Very well Landon of Seabeth and Seajen." He said. With a bow Landon walked over to the Prince and Nathan looked up at him with a smile. The two obviously knew each other well. Jes didn't pay much attention to the other pairings for the first year boys, she figured that she would come to know the ones worth knowing well enough soon.  
  
Jes watched with more interest as the girls were given sponsors. "Larissa of Elden" beautiful girl with long blonde hair was sponsored by "Tiana of Groten" and "Sarin of Distart" was sponsored by a fourth year boy who looked so much like her that Jes was not surprised in the least when he was introduced as "Warren of Distart". Another girl, by the name of "Michiko of Queenscove" was sponsored by a tall dark skinned boy who Jes judged was probably Bazhir by the name of "Haliz ibn Pazli". Another girl, this one almost rivaling Larissa of Elden in looks was sponsored by a tall third year girl whose name Jes didn't catch after an argument with an even taller second year boy. Finally Lord Merric turned to Jes.  
  
"Name and fief then, quickly now." He said.  
  
"Jestinia of, of Rockstream M'lord." Jes said, attempting to make a bow.  
  
Dani's hand went up at once, followed to Jes' surprise by the hand of a boy who Jes was surprised to see looked quite a bit like Dani. Lord Merric looked at Dani, "Daniella, in this case the preference goes to your brother, who has managed, unlike you to manage to perform generally well in his classes." A few of the pages snickered and Jes looked up to see Larissa of Elden and her sponsor Tiana almost doubled over with laughter. Jes directed a glare at them but straightened her face when Lord Merric looked at her quizzically, one eyebrow raised. "Dandin of Goldenlake, you will sponsor Jestinia of Rockstream." he said after a pause. Dani glared furiously at Dandin and Jes just looked from one to the other, wondering just what she was getting herself into. "Nobles," she thought to herself, "Who's ever going to understand them?" 


	4. Michiko

As Lord Merric walked away Dani scowled at Dandin, "I told you I wanted to sponsor her, Kip." Dandin just smiled while Jes looked confused.  
  
"Who's Kip?" she asked, trying to sort all this out in her mind.  
  
Dandin smiled. "You can just call me Kip. I was named after my father because I'm the oldest boy but I've got a cousin who's just a little older than me who's named Dandin too so everybody called me Kip instead." He said. He turned to look at his younger sister pleadingly, "Dani, think about it, sponsoring her would take time and you really do need to work on your classwork. Mum would kill me if you fell behind and that's not really something I want to deal with in my last year of pagedom."  
  
Dani scowled at her brother for a minute and then shrugged, "Whatever you say, o almighty and brilliant brother. I think I would have been fine!" she said, but as she walked past her brother she slapped his head good naturedly and Jes breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't really want to get in the middle of some sibling feud.  
  
Kip turned to Jes again after watching his sister stride down the hall bemusedly, "Come on then, if we don't get to breakfast we'll be late and I really don't need more punishment work." He said. Jes nodded and they walked in silence towards the mess, evidently babbling didn't run in the family. Jes offered a small thanks to the gods for that, she wasn't sure if she would be able to deal with the constant babbling that Dani seemed to love so much.  
  
As they entered into the mess a few of the boys called out for Kip to come to their table. Jes followed, not wanting to get separated from her sponsor in this rush of boys, as Kip walked over to greet them. "'lo, this is my little pagelet, Jes, had to save her from the madness of my sister you know, there wasn't much I could do." Jes stood behind Kip, unsure of what to do. "Come on, sit down Kip." Urged one of the boys, who Jes thought she remembered as being Landon of Seabeth and Seajen, he was the one who had taken Prince Nathaniel.  
  
Kip nodded. "We'll be right back, we've got to get some food." He grabbed Jes' arm and towed her over to get into the line. "Take a ton of food, you'll be glad of it by the time you're done this afternoon. Lesson's are hard work." He said.  
  
Jes nodded, only an idiot wouldn't take as much food as they thought would fill them up without bloating them, you didn't pass up free food when it was offered to you, that was one of the first things she had learned back home. "Umm, Kip?" Jes said. The older boy looked at her over his shoulder with a nod. Jes took it to mean he was listening and continued, "Are we ever allowed to go into the city, I want to visit my br-some relatives." She amended.  
  
Not seeming to notice her slip, Kip nodded, "If you don't have any extra work on the weekends you're allowed to go into the city, first years need an older page with them though. That almost never happens, extra work is a given. Sometimes Lord Merric rewards pages with trips to the city though." Kip said as he led her back to the table where his friends were sitting and sat down. Jes noticed that Dani had joined them too and was glad, she didn't like to be surrounded by complete strangers. Yet again Jes questioned her sanity, what was making her do this? "I want to be a knight." She thought firmly too herself, "I want to, and now I'm going to be a knight."  
  
There were three other girls with the group, one of whom Jes recognized as one of the other first years, Sarin of Disart sitting with her brother Warren. Warren looked at Jes with a grin, "So you're Jestinia?" he asked.  
  
Jes nodded and Warren bowed deeply over his plate to her, "I am proud to meet the daughter of a man so brave as M'lord of Rockstream." The others nodded, and Jes looked from one to the other, suppressing her surprise carefully.  
  
"Thank you, I umm." Jes strained to try to think of something to say, "I appreciate your praise of my father." Jes had no idea what they could be talking about but she smiled graciously anyway, hoping that they would change the subject.  
  
* * * * *  
  
"Come on girl, you can do better than that! You have to slap the ground as you fall." Jes groaned as the middle-aged hand to hand instructor, Kyall, sent her soaring over his hip again. This time she remembered to slap the ground as she fell, but the force of it still sent a shock through her arms. Jes knew that she should be able to fall correctly, god knows she had spent enough time "practicing" hand to hand fighting, but this organized system was so different from the fighting on the streets. Jes ground her teeth as Kyall shook his head, "No, no. Back of the line Rockstream, you're hopeless." He said.  
  
Jes lingered for a moment, as the tall first year girl called Michiko stepped up and let Kyall throw her. Michiko landed easily, slapping the ground as though she had been doing it all her life and bounded to her feet almost instantly. Jes ground her teeth even more, how could this Michiko be so much better when Jes had been fighting nearly her whole life?  
  
Michiko smiled at Jes as she followed her to the back of the line, "I see what your problem is when you fall, you're putting too much of your weight on your arms, instead you've got to just slap the ground to take away the shock of landing. If you put too much weight on your arms you might break something." Michiko said. Jes suppressed the urge to growl at this noble girl who was trying to tell her what to do. "I know." She said, turning to watch the older pages going through practice fights.  
  
Michiko didn't look particularly surprised that Jes was irritated. "Sorry, Pa tells me that people hate it when you correct them like that. He says he used to hate it when Kel corrected him. She told me not to show off, I guess I kind of was."  
  
Jes turned to look at Michiko in surprise, maybe the other girl really was trying to help, not just showing off how much better than Jes she was. "It's fine, I shouldn't have gotten mad. I just have had a lot of hand to hand practice so I thought I'd be better than I seem to be. Where'd you learn to fall like that?" she asked.  
  
Michiko groaned, "The Yamani Islands, my mother, Yukimi is from there and I grew up there. The armsmaster back at Queenscove was always making me practice. He's a Yamani too. You wouldn't believe how often I've had to do this fall, and exactly this way." She said. "Your turn again, keep in mind what I said about the shock stuff. I really don't know what it means but it might help."  
  
Jes nodded as she stepped forwards, this time she didn't try to put much weight on her arms, just catching up enough of the shock that she recovered in seconds and was back on her feet. Jes winked to Michiko as she walked back into line, silently thanking her for the advice. For all that they were nobles, the pages here seemed to be pretty good people.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Just an hour later, as Jes stood across from the beautiful Larissa of Elden, she wasn't so sure. Larissa held her staff like it was some sort of snake, barely tapping it against Jes' and then recoiling quickly. Jes shook her head as she brought her staff up to block another of Larissa's quick taps.  
  
"You can put more force behind that if you want, it won't hurt me." Jes said, wondering if Larissa was holding back for her sake.  
  
Larissa ignored Jes, just bringing up her staff to block Jes' blow, which while light, was nothing like Larissa's feather-like touches. Jes frowned but just continued trading blows until Lord Merric called for them to switch partners. Jes ended up across from Michiko and she breathed a sigh of relief. Michiko grinned at her, "I saw you with Larissa, annoying isn't she?" she said under her breath.  
  
Jes nodded fervently, as she watched Larissa squeal as an older boy's staff came down on hers. "What's a girl like that doing trying to become a knight?" she asked. Didn't most noble girls go to the convent to learn to become proper ladies? Jes thought Larissa would have fit that role perfectly.  
  
Michiko scowled, "Some fathers are sending their second or third daughters to become knights, thinking that it will make them more valuable brides to the progressives who support girls becoming knights. They think that it will give them an edge over the masses of convent ladies." She said.  
  
Jes snorted in disgust. "So they're sending their daughters to become knights to make them more valuable? That's sick!" she said.  
  
Michiko nodded as the two concentrated on their sparring. Jes had relaxed with Michiko as a partner, her blows were forceful but they weren't an attack and Jes blocked them easily, returning her own blows.  
  
* * * * *  
  
As Jes left the library that night with Kip she remembered that she needed to find the etiquette book that Master Oakbridge had assigned for reading that night. Kip pointed to the door down the hall and said he'd wait for her. Jes nodded and trotted towards the room quickly.  
  
As Jes entered and grabbed the book off the table she heard yells from behind one of the dusty bookshelves. Jes leapt to her feet immediately and walked around the edge of the bookcase. There was Haliz, the boy Michiko had pointed out with a frown to be her sponsor, with another boy Jes didn't recognize and Larissa of Elden who was laughing as Haliz held Michiko against one of the bookshelves with a smile, "Now my dear Michiko," he said, kneeing her in the stomach, "We won't be hanging about with that Rockstream girl will we. Rockstream is with Landon and his gang, no one you will be fraternizing with." He said. He punctuated his sentence with kicks.  
  
Jes started forward into the alcove and the other boy yelled a warning to Haliz. Haliz turned, the smile on his face fading as he shoved Michiko away from him, "And what would you be wanting Rockstream?" he asked.  
  
Jes stared at him, "What are you doing? Michiko can talk with anyone she likes. If you have a problem with me just tell me." She said.  
  
Haliz nodded. "I have a problem with you." He said, "I have a problem with you and every single one of your other little friends. Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, settling back onto his heels, readying for a fight. Jes didn't answer, she couldn't, the other boy had snuck around behind her and now he had one hand over her mouth. "What do you want me to do with her?" he asked Haliz.  
  
Haliz smiled, "Just hold her for a minute, she and I need to have a quick conversation. As Haliz drew back one hand to punch her Jes bit the hand of the boy holding her and ducked out of his grip. Haliz's punch went straight over her head to hit the boy's nose. The other boy fell on top of Jes who pushed him off of her just in time to avoid a kick to the head. Haliz yelled as Michiko pulled him down from the back and threw him to the floor. As Jes stood up Larissa of Elden launched herself towards her, wrapping her hands into Jes' short hair and wrenching. Jes held in a squeal of pain and brought one hand up to grab Larissa's shoulder. Wrenching it, Jes leaned down and threw Larissa to the floor, only to stand up into a punch from the boy who had pulled himself up off of the floor. Jes frowned as she felt her nose break, that one would hurt for a while. Jes could feel blood trickling down her face and she punched the boy as hard as she could. It wasn't hard enough, she thought, to warrant the boy crumpling to the ground, but Jes grinned when she saw Michiko standing behind the boy, a book raised in her hand.  
  
Jes looked around at the three groaning pages with a grin. "Come on. Lets go meet Kip." She said. Jes and Michiko walked out of the library smiling and went over to Kip who stared at Jes openmouthed. "You've got.." he was staring at her nose and Jes remembered the break with a sigh. "I hate broken noses." She muttered. "they take forever to-" but she broke off as Michiko put a hand to her nose and she felt coolness flow into her nose. She looked at Michiko with surprise and the other girl smiled, "My Pa has a really strong healing gift and since I've wanted to become a knight forever he started my training early. Pa didn't want for me to not learn as much as I could like he did." She said.  
  
Kip was still looking from Jes to Michiko and back again. "You've got a lot of explaining to do little pagelet." He said. 


	5. The Silver Crescent

Jes groaned as she eased herself out of her window. It had taken forever to get rid of Kip and now all she wanted was to sleep, no doubt that was what every other page in the palace was doing. Jes landed on the ground in the courtyard below with a light thump and looked around to see if anyone might have seen her descent. The courtyard was completely silent and Jes breathed a sigh of relief. If she got caught now she didn't know what she was going to say.  
  
With another quick look around Jes slid into the shadows along the wall, moving quickly but silently. It seemed to take forever to reach the small side gate and Jes looked over her shoulder with a gulp before tapping the guardsman in front of her on the shoulder.  
  
"Wha-" the man cut off with a smile when he saw Jes, "Tomas isn't too happy with ya for not being there last night, what held you up?" he said.  
  
"Nothing, nothing, but I've got to get out quick, if someone sees that I'm gone I'm dead." Jes said. The man nodded and swung the gate open. Jes winced as the hinges squealed, "Can't you oil that or something before I get up. I told you, if I'm caught I'm dead." Jes said.  
  
"What, palace maids aren't allowed to go into the city at night?" the man asked, "I've met plenty of them at night." He said with a smile. Jes shook her head with disgust as she slipped past him and out onto the street. Bran was a good enough man, he was trustworthy according to Tom. But she really didn't need any questions about her maid identity right now, Tom would kill her if he knew what she was doing.  
  
"Hey there girly, pretty things like you shouldn't be out alone at night. You need a man to watch after you." Jes turned to see a large man silhouetted by the light that streamed from the windows of the houses around her. He looked drunk, Jes decided, he was staggering as he walked towards her.  
  
"I'm fine sir." She said.  
  
The man smiled, "No, no, I think you needs some protecting. What do you say girly?" he reached for Jes' arm and she pulled back. The man scowled, "Come on, girly, I don't have time for these games." He said. He slapped her across the face and two knives materialized in Jes' hands from their sheaths along her arms. "No need to be getting all violent then girly." The man said.  
  
Jes smiled, "No, I guess not." She sheathed her daggers and turned to walk away from the man, tensing all of her senses to hear the telltale noise that would give him away. A small grunt came from behind her and she ducked, letting the man's leap carry him over her head. He stood up and turned to face her with a snarl, "You listen here, bitch. You're coming with me." He said. Jes didn't reply, she doubted that there was much she could do to change his mind. The man jumped at her, a sword appearing in his hand. Jes growled to herself, how had she missed the uniform of one of the Palace Guard, drunk and off-duty. Jes threw one of daggers towards the man, hitting him in his shoulder. The man yelped and Jes turned and ran.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Jes pushed open the door into the crowded bar with a smile. Finally she was back where she belonged. The common room of the Silver Crescent was packed with men, on top of one of the tables a girl was dancing to the music that a few of the men were playing. Jes walked over to the table in the corner where her older brother was slouched up against the wall. "Jes! You're finally back. Where were you last night?" he asked.  
  
"They don't let the maids go out into the City until they've been working for a while. They think we'll just take our pay and run off." Jes said.  
  
Tom grinned, "I still don't see why you've decided to turn respectable all of a sudden. You're not a bad pickpocket you know." He said. Jes just shook her head, her brother just didn't want her living in the palace out of his view. Jes turned to look at the empty chair by Tom, "Where's his Majesty?" she asked.  
  
Tom shrugged, there was some trouble off in some city, he had to go deal with some branch that actually wanted to break off from the Rogue." Tom smirked, "Idiots. Anyway he left me in command because even though he knows I want his crown he trusts me.sort of." Jes smiled. Tom and Bando, the King, were close friends despite the rivalry that they had between them. Bando knew that Tom would never try to take over with him gone. For almost the same reasons Tom knew that he would probably never be king because he couldn't kill his friend. It was a complicated situation but Jes thought that the two of them were happy enough.  
  
"I should be getting back to the Palace, if you want to contact me, send it through the guardsman who let me out tonight, Bran. He seems decent enough to me. But I'm gonna be half asleep all tomorrow if I don't get back now." Jes reached into her belt purse and tossed a smaller purse to Tom, "Here, I lightened the load of a couple drunks on my way here. Don't worry brother of mine, I'll never be completely gone from the Rogue." Jes smiled at her brother and slipped out one of the back doors into the alleyway.  
  
* * * * *  
  
Jes woke to a pounding on her door. "Unggghhh. Go away." She muttered as she rolled onto the floor with a thud.  
  
"Jes! It's time for breakfast you slug!" Kip was shouting from the other side of the door. "Get up, get dressed!" Jes was already dressed, simply having fallen into bed when she had returned from the Silver Crescent the night before. She pulled her boots on with a sigh and opened the door. Kip stumbled through the door way as the kick he'd been directing at the door carried him through the doorway.  
  
"Come on, Jes! Normal classes start today!" he said. Jes looked at him, he was definitely overly cheerful.  
  
"What do you mean normal classes? Didn't we have normal classes yesterday?" she asked wearily.  
  
"Nope, we only had our fighting classes in the morning and then that etiquette class all afternoon. That was just because of how horrible we were at serving the night before. Today we've got all the rest of our classes." He said. Kip smiled when he saw Jes' face. Jes just growled at him as he pulled her down the hall cheerily. 


End file.
